History of China From Ancient to modern times. Ancient China As early as 5,000 BC Chinese people lived in the fertile river valley of the Huang He (Yellow.

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Presentation on theme: "History of China From Ancient to modern times. Ancient China As early as 5,000 BC Chinese people lived in the fertile river valley of the Huang He (Yellow."— Presentation transcript:

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History of China From Ancient to modern times

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Ancient China As early as 5,000 BC Chinese people lived in the fertile river valley of the Huang He (Yellow River) & the Yangtze River In 1700 BC the Shang invaded and established the first organized civilization For many years after, China was ruled by dynasties, or families of rulers

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Chinese Nationalist Party By the early 1900’s, many western educated Chinese were tired of the dynasties rule & wanted China to become a democracy, the Chinese Nationalist Party was created to accomplish this In 1911 the nationalist party toppled the Qing dynasty. The emperor stepped down and China became a Republic. Over the next 16 years, China was in turmoil with different groups fighting over power China continued to face many struggles leading up to WWI, and a small Communist Party formed in opposition to the Nationalist party

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Communism in China Mao Zedong After WWII, China’s two parties again turned on each other and in 1949 the communist defeated the nationalist, forcing the nationalists to Taiwan In 1949, China became a communist country and was officially renamed People’s Republic of China (A.K.A. Communist China or Red China) Mao Zedong became the 1 st Chairman of Communist China

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Communism in China

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Mao Zedong The man who made China Communist Born a peasant, Mao was attracted to Communist ideals at an early age He witnessed the inequalities around him – hardworking farmers living in poverty, while powerful landowners amassed great wealth Mao’s dream for China was said to be based on his belief that everyone should work together for the good of all people People in China to this day repeat his slogans and study his writings

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Reform and Revolution The new communist government instituted many reforms: They seized land from the wealthy and gave it to the peasants They nationalized industries in China As in the Soviet Union, they created collective farms where peasants combined their land and worked together to grow food

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The Great Leap Forward In 1958, Mao Zedong launched a program, called the Great Leap Forward, to speed up economic development Collective farms became huge communes of 25,000 people These communes grew crops, ran small industries and provided health care & education for their members In less than one year, 900 million Chinese peasants were moved into these communes Unfortunately, things did not go as planned Chinese propaganda showing the ideal commune

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The Great Leap Forward In the beginning, commune members were able to eat for free at the commune canteens. This changed when food production slowed to a halt. People in the countryside working at night to produce steel.

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The Great Leap Forward Chinese Propaganda of the “Great Leap Forward” Era In one year, the Great Leap Forward shattered China’s economy Poor agricultural production, droughts and floods caused one of the worst famines in history From 1958 to 1960, as many as 20 million people starved, while millions more died of disease Needless to say, some in China’s communist government began to question Mao’s leadership

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The Cultural Revolution After the Great Leap Forward, many people in government began to call for reform (change) Mao feared that these people wanted to turn China into a capitalist country In 1966, Mao launched a movement called the Cultural Revolution, which aimed to remove any and all opposition to the Communist Party Mao’s new supporters, the “Red Guards” were given complete power to root out any threats to Chinese culture The people were encouraged to betray each other to authorities for having anti-communist ideas They sought out to punish those who criticized the government They punished people who had contact with western people or that had western ideas (capitalism) Millions of people were violently persecuted and thousands were murdered until 1971 China fell into chaos once again, the economy weakened and the government was unable to carry out many of its duties

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The Cultural Revolution Propaganda “ The peoples liberation army is a great school for Mao Zedong thought”

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China’s government reforms After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, many wanted to restore order and economic growth China’s new leaders instituted a “second revolution”, which, over time, improved life dramatically Changes made to China’s economy introduced elements of Free Enterprise (Capitalism) The government established diplomatic relationships with the United States, increased trade with other countries and allowed farmers to own land

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China’s government today Since 1949, The Chinese Communist Party has been the only political party to hold real power in China’s government The Peoples Republic of China is regarded by many political scientists; along with Cuba, North Korea, Laos and Vietnam, as one of the last five “Communist” nations on Earth Although an exact definition is not possible, China is best described as a “One-Party Dictatorship” This government has had a history of repressing criticism of it’s policies Such actions often lead to the violation of human rights For example, in 1989, the Chinese military denied citizens the freedom of speech and assembly when it attacked protesters calling for democracy in Tiananmen Square

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Tiananmen Square For weeks, protesters non- violently occupied this 100 acre square in Beijing These protesters were calling for more “democratic” reforms in their government The military killed hundreds and wounded thousands in their attempt to end the protests People around the world spoke up against the Chinese government Since then, efforts have been made to help the people of China in their struggle for human rights Despite all of this, human rights are still an issue in China

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Tiananmen Square

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Human Rights in China China is NOT a Democracy, citizens do not have the right to elect national leaders Although officially a part of the constitution, Chinese citizens do not have the freedom of speech or the freedom of the press. All media is heavily censored by the government and it is illegal to criticize the government Some foreign web sites such as “YouTube” & “Face Book” have been banned by the government. The word “democracy” has been banned from internet chat rooms Movement within & out of the country is strictly controlled by the government Human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the government of China of torturing it’s prisoners In China, a total of 68 crimes are punishable by death, including non violent crimes such as tax fraud and embezzlement China executes more people each year than the rest of the world combined Basically, Chinese citizens lack a lot of the basic freedoms that we enjoy

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One – Child Policy China's birth control policy, known widely as the “one-child” policy, was implemented in 1979 by the Chinese government to alleviate the overpopulation problem Having more than one child is illegal and punishable by fines Critics argue that it contributes to forced abortions, human rights violations, female infanticide, abandonment and gender selective abortions (Males are often seen as more valuable than females in Chinese Culture) In 2002, the laws related to the one-child policy were amended to allow ethnic minorities and Chinese living in rural areas to have more than one child The policy has been relaxed in urban areas to allow people who were single children to have two children

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China’s Economy Since market based reforms in the late 70’s, China has developed the worlds fastest growing economy In recent years, China has shifted from a pure Command Economy to a “Mixed Economy” (Command & Market) They are the world’s largest exporter and 2 nd largest importer of goods China’s economy is currently based heavily on industry; as well as agriculture They have seen massive growth several industries such as: machine building, metal production, making of chemical fertilizers and clothing Due to low labor costs, many companies around the world have their products manufactured in China

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China: Potential Super Power Based on GDP, currently the 2 nd largest economy in the world With a population of over 1.3 Billion, China has the worlds largest army China is a recognized “Nuclear Weapons Country” Many experts characterize China as a potential “Super Power” that appears to be growing stronger as time marches on